A Starving Artist
His name was Rob and he was about 19, 20, thin, quiet, shy, and looking totally different from the rest of us professionals in the design/fashion field. But he was one of the most totally creative, original persons I have ever known.
In an era of short hair, clean shaven faces and immaculate clothing Rob had long straggly hair, wore sandals even in the cold of winter, and clothes that barely warmed him, cut out of maybe old blankets and worn like ponchos. But he was one of the most totally creative, original persons I have ever known.
Our lives only touched for a few months in a large department store in Baltimore where I designed the windows and Rob was hired for a short time in the interior display department...I guess because he looked "arty". Store personnel were shook up by this oddity but a few of us soon learned that he continually created art....sculptures, jewelry....from scraps, depris, yes, junk, that he found in the street, gutters, trash cans....wherever. Bits of metal, plastic, wood, glass, bone. Anything that had promise. Promise that most of us can't possible see. But Rob had the eyes of an artist, and they are different eyes.
He wore the necklaces that he created....wild and wonderful....because they were his children. But soon the super-smart, elegant, high-fashioned buyers in the store were buying his work. And he hadn't even been selling. The buyers of coats, of sportswear, of dresses, etc., smart, savvy, high-fashioned people who were tired of the same old, same old, were buying Rob's funky art work. Wow!
What a lesson. Last week I wrote about a shocking event in my life, my childhood..."A sad story". Scroll down and read. How, in the French classic story a young woman wasted her life because she needed to show off by having "fine things"....expensive jewelry and the like. We live in an age of materialism, where people want to show off with expensive things. How is that working?
Rob taught us....some of us....that art is what the dictionary says it is: "An esthetically pleasing and meaningful arrangement of elements, as words, sounds, colors, shapes, etc.". Funk and Wagnalls College Dictionary. Check out your own dictionary. Then go to http://www.artonanisland.com/ and see if it fits!
In an era of short hair, clean shaven faces and immaculate clothing Rob had long straggly hair, wore sandals even in the cold of winter, and clothes that barely warmed him, cut out of maybe old blankets and worn like ponchos. But he was one of the most totally creative, original persons I have ever known.
Our lives only touched for a few months in a large department store in Baltimore where I designed the windows and Rob was hired for a short time in the interior display department...I guess because he looked "arty". Store personnel were shook up by this oddity but a few of us soon learned that he continually created art....sculptures, jewelry....from scraps, depris, yes, junk, that he found in the street, gutters, trash cans....wherever. Bits of metal, plastic, wood, glass, bone. Anything that had promise. Promise that most of us can't possible see. But Rob had the eyes of an artist, and they are different eyes.
He wore the necklaces that he created....wild and wonderful....because they were his children. But soon the super-smart, elegant, high-fashioned buyers in the store were buying his work. And he hadn't even been selling. The buyers of coats, of sportswear, of dresses, etc., smart, savvy, high-fashioned people who were tired of the same old, same old, were buying Rob's funky art work. Wow!
What a lesson. Last week I wrote about a shocking event in my life, my childhood..."A sad story". Scroll down and read. How, in the French classic story a young woman wasted her life because she needed to show off by having "fine things"....expensive jewelry and the like. We live in an age of materialism, where people want to show off with expensive things. How is that working?
Rob taught us....some of us....that art is what the dictionary says it is: "An esthetically pleasing and meaningful arrangement of elements, as words, sounds, colors, shapes, etc.". Funk and Wagnalls College Dictionary. Check out your own dictionary. Then go to http://www.artonanisland.com/ and see if it fits!
Labels: arts
posted by Gini at
3:08 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home